The latest Drought Monitor, released today, shows that drought continued to expand and worsen across the region in spite of some rain that fell on Easter, dampening sunrise services but failing to make much of a dent in the water deficits. The area of exceptional (D4) drought continues to expand in southern Georgia and the Florida Panhandle. Since there is almost no rain forecast through April 25 and temperatures are expected to be warmer than usual for the next 3-4 weeks, the continued expansion of drought and worsening status is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
It is interesting to note that the growth of the drought came during the fall and winter with the absence of tropical rain and the impacts of La Nina on the water balance. Winter is normally the period when we get significant recharge of the soil moisture and build up a reserve of moisture going into the growing season, and this year we got very little relief. Now that all the plants are out of dormancy and growing, they are sucking up whatever reserves of moisture that are left in the soil and are struggling to stay alive.
This puts our farmers in a terrible bind since it is hard to get good seed germination and seedling establishment with such dry conditions. Livestock producers are also struggling to feed their cattle after dry pastures cannot feed their hungry cows and they are out of hay after the dry fall and winter that just occurred. I have noticed reservoir levels are down and have seen many pictures of dry farm ponds and streams, so there will also be less water available for irrigation except where deep wells are available as I am sure water tables are also dropping. Please keep all our agricultural producers in your thoughts and prayers as they go through this difficult time!
